Donald Trump’s strained relationship with eldest sister who dubbed him 'cruel'
Former President Donald Trump had a strained relationship with his eldest sister Maryanne Barry Trump - who has died aged 86.
The former judge once backed her brother in his political ambitions, but later became a fierce critic of him in private. The former federal judge was found at her home early on Monday morning, there were no signs of foul play but the New York Police Department (NYPD) said an investigation is ongoing.
The 45th president is yet to comment on his sister's death, but Trump's eldest son Donald Trump Jr said he was close with Barry's grandson and the news meant a "rough day for myself and my family." He added: "I'm very close with her grandson. We hang out all the time. And so it's obviously a rough day for that."
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Left to right, Elizabeth Trump Grau, her husband Jim Grau, Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, Donald Trump, Lisa Desmond, her son Robert, David Desmond, Donald Trump, Jr, wife Vanessa Kay Haydon Trump, Eric Trump, and fiance Lara Yunaska pose for a group portrait during Easter Sunday events at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, April 16, 2006 (Getty Images)The presumptive GOP candidate's sister was generally quiet on matters of politics, but courted controversy in recent years because of some of the views of her brother that were revealed by her niece Mary, a known fierce critic of the president who continues to be divisive and wracked by legal woes.
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So what was the history of the two siblings' relationship?
'Cruel' Trump 'has no principles'
Information on the pair's relationship is limited, but Barry was recorded in a secret conversation in 2020, according to the Washington Post. In it, she said her brother had "no principles" in regard to his political stances on major issues.
She said: "All he wants to do is appeal to his base. He has no principles. None. None. And his base, I mean my God, if you were a religious person, you want to help people. Not do this."
She is also reported to have said her brother was "cruel," adding: "His goddamned tweet and lying, oh my God … I’m talking too freely, but you know. The change of stories. The lack of preparation. The lying. Holy shit."
The Trump siblings in 2008 (AFP via Getty Images)
Fred Trump Jr. and Mary Anne Trump (WireImage)The conversation was recorded by their niece Mary Trump, who is the son of Fred Trump Jr, the eldest son of Fred Trump Sr, the real estate developer and business mogul. Mary and the former president have a particularly public feud and they remain engaged in a lawsuit in which the latter claims Mary and New York Times reporters conducted an “insidious plot” he claims they masterminded to obtain his income tax records.
In her 2020 book 'Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man,' Mary Trump claimed her uncle paid someone to take his SAT exam to allow him to get into the prestigious Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Trump uses "cheating as a way of life," the book claims.
At the time, then-White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews said the SAT allegation was "completely false."
Barry was reported to be on the way to repairing the relationship with her brother (CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)Barry, meanwhile, was reported to be on the way to repairing the relationship with her brother and the two even met over the summer at Trump's club in Bedminster, New Jersey, a source told ABC. Barry had benefited from the relationship with her brother before, according to a report in the New York Times, after she became an assistant US attorney in 1974 and then a senior judge on the US district court for New Jersey, appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1983.
The report said Trump's then “fixer, the lawyer Roy M Cohn” helped Barry in her nomination. Later, President Bill Clinton appointed her to the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, a level below the Supreme Court. She retired in 2019 amid an investigation into her family’s tax practices.
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